An additional item in preventive maintenance on vehicles over 6 years old is to check CV boots monthly- especially the outboard boots. A crack/leak detected early will save replacing the axle. If you wait til you hear clicking with turns the joint is bad and cost more than double.

Don't I know it. Our 626 just tore a boot and it was $300 to fix it. All that and we still have an axle whine from that area, so it's going back to the shop again. I don't think they packed enough grease, or they didn't do it properly.

we own three Subarus- one legacy 4wd wagon with a 5 speed (rare car), one SVX, and a 1991 Justy. All of these cars are flawless. Subarus far exceed Honda and Toyotas in reliability. I know- I owned Hondas since 1981, and switched to a little Subaru Justy in 1991. I'll never go back to a Honda. Still have that $6000 car, and it's got 130k, and I've never done anything but routine maintainence on it. It burns a little oil, but hey, it's a high-revving three-cylinder. These cars were only designed to go 100k (even the odometer resets after 100k). My SVX is flawless as well. It's got 85k, and nothing has gone wrong other than an occasional chirp from that annoying alarm on a hot day.

My son has a 1992 Honda Accord. It has 125k, and breaks down all the time. Yet, on the Kelly Blue Book, his car is worth $500 more than my SVX with only 85k, all the bells and whistles, and a gutsy boxer V6! What a joke! Buy a used Subaru, they don't hold their value at all, but they are reliable as dirt!